Database Users

Viewing Web-based PDF files within app

Hey all-
I am very new to developing (and Java). Currently working on my 2nd android app so be gentle here. Is there a way, or a good work-around to display web-based pdf files with android? Basically I am trying to have one of the buttons in my program pull up a website that happens to be a web-based pdf. I don't believe WebView will support that.
I have tried converting the pdf files to .png but I loose all the resolution I need as I need the user to be able to zoom in and see the detail.
Is there anyway to either host the pdf file on-line as something else and/or convert it to something else to make it available off-line?
Thanks for any help

Just throwing this out there, but why not have the link download the PDF file to the user's phone.
Only downside I see to this is in the even that the user doesn't have a PDF "viewer."
Otherwise, I'm not aware of any real way to display a PDF within the browser.
If someone can work this out, I'd be interested in learning his/her technique as well.

Thanks for the reply- I did think of doing it that way but I didn't want to make use of my app dependent on another app- It sounds like that's what I will have to do though as I have searched high and low without finding a solution. I had wanted to make two versions of the app- in the free version the user would need web access, in the paid version the user could have off-line access.
With Adobe's pdf viewer on the market for free and most new phones coming stock with pdf viewers, I suppose it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. Is there no graphic format I can convert a pdf to and then host on-line? Thank you again

OREGONMX said:
Thanks for the reply- I did think of doing it that way but I didn't want to make use of my app dependent on another app- It sounds like that's what I will have to do though as I have searched high and low without finding a solution. I had wanted to make two versions of the app- in the free version the user would need web access, in the paid version the user could have off-line access.
With Adobe's pdf viewer on the market for free and most new phones coming stock with pdf viewers, I suppose it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. Is there no graphic format I can convert a pdf to and then host on-line? Thank you again
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Yeah, I know exactly what you are saying. Having an app-to-app dependency can cause quite a hysteria with users. They'll complain that the app is faulty and rate it 1 star.
My other suggestion would be to screenshot the PDF, page by page, and paste them into Photoshop and save the files as jpg's with the highest resolution. It will definitely take up a lot of your time if you have a lot of PDFs with many pages. Granted, you'll be taking up much more space, and the image will be loading a lot slower but you'll have pretty neat quality.
You'll have to weigh the factors on what you find more important - speed or quality.
If you don't mind me asking, what type of app are you making.

Thanks again- well just a few minutes ago my friend who is a bit more proficient with the whole coding thing came up with an idea that might just work-
he suggested taking the PDF and splitting it up into several different images and just creating an arrow button on the sides or top or bottom (depending on where in the image you are looking) and then applying an onClickListener to the buttons which will call up a different image view, which would be the next corresponding image/area of the pdf. I'm hoping that by cutting the pdf into small pieces like that and saving them as either jpg or png files I can retain the resolution I am after AND host them on-line myself for the free-app and give users the option to download the pdf to their SD card in the paid version- which would make my original idea a possibility.
My app is a program aimed at dirtbiking enthusiasts- surprisingly there is not a lot of crossover between the dirtbiking community and the developing community- I am all alone Ha!
I don't imagine I stand to make a bajillion dollars but learning android and java and actually seeing what I am doing work (sometimes) has been a fantastically gratifying experience. Just wish I had more time to do it- a 4-year-old and 5-year-old + wife + full-time job make it hard. I'm in no hurry though

That sounds fairly similar to what Facebook has on their "Touch" version of their site (touch.facebook.com)
If you view pictures within an album, you'll notice you get the arrows on the bottom left and right to keep switching between pictures.
Sounds like that would definitely work.
Keep me posted on your app. I give you props for even being on your 2nd app, as I've seen many people in your same situation (wife, kids, job) just give up after downloading the SDK.
But yeah, I'm interested to see how it turns out.

Thanks hopefully my vision will come together sooner rather than later. I'll keep you posted
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

HELP!!!!!!!

Sorry if there's already a thread on this, but are there any white noise apps (sound soother) compatible with the tilt 2. I downloaded Soothr sound therapy with no luck, doesn't work on tilt 2. If anyone knows any white noise apps that actually work on the rhodium, let me know. Badly in need of something to help me sleep at night. All help is greatly appreciated.

Terrible thread title.

Delicious Apple said:
Sorry if there's already a thread on this, but are there any white noise apps (sound soother) compatible with the tilt 2. I downloaded Soothr sound therapy with no luck, doesn't work on tilt 2. If anyone knows any white noise apps that actually work on the rhodium, let me know. Badly in need of something to help me sleep at night. All help is greatly appreciated.
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use the search function. you may find what your looking for.

Why not just create a playlist with the music app of your choice? Soothing music can be easily downloaded.

Miami_Son said:
Terrible thread title.
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So true! A large number of posts on this forum are people seeking help of some sort. So titles that describe what exactly you want assistance with are very helpful.

Funny, I was just looking for the same thing about a week ago. Newborn baby at home by any chance? I have a 5-week old that started getting more fussy recently, and white noise works wonders with her.
Good to know the Soothr app doesn't work on the Tilt2. There are two other apps (by the same developer) on the Microsoft WM Marketplace creatively titled "White Noise" and "White Noise 2", for $2.99 each. Haven't personally tried them, and can't vouch for them.
I found an older an older Windows Mobile app called "Kai's Relax Sounds" searching around the internet. It works on my Tilt2, but its merely okay, and IMO not worth the $8 needed to purchase it. Although my kid responds well to the "Waves On Beach" sound on this app, and its pleasant enough for me and my wife to tolerate as well. The sounds files are just saved as MP3 files in the program folder. So I just copied the MP3 to my music folder, and play it on the HTC music player.
Like cajun says in the previous reply, playing white noise MP3 tracks on your music player of choice is easier and better than the apps around. Just search around the net, and you'll find some good free or purchased ones.

redpoint73 said:
Funny, I was just looking for the same thing about a week ago. Newborn baby at home by any chance? I have a 5-week old that started getting more fussy recently, and white noise works wonders with her.
Good to know the Soothr app doesn't work on the Tilt2. There are two other apps (by the same developer) on the Microsoft WM Marketplace creatively titled "White Noise" and "White Noise 2", for $2.99 each. Haven't personally tried them, and can't vouch for them.
I found an older an older Windows Mobile app called "Kai's Relax Sounds" searching around the internet. It works on my Tilt2, but its merely okay, and IMO not worth the $8 needed to purchase it. Although my kid responds well to the "Waves On Beach" sound on this app, and its pleasant enough for me and my wife to tolerate as well. The sounds files are just saved as MP3 files in the program folder. So I just copied the MP3 to my music folder, and play it on the HTC music player.
Like cajun says in the previous reply, playing white noise MP3 tracks on your music player of choice is easier and better than the apps around. Just search around the net, and you'll find some good free or purchased ones.
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Really? Terrible title.. please title with your topic or question..

Registered WP7 Developer looking for ideas!

As the title states, suggest away.

direct sync to outlook .pst
What the [email protected]#$% was MS thinking by leaving this out? Even the iphone syncs to outlook.

mightyeric said:
direct sync to outlook .pst
What the [email protected]#$% was MS thinking by leaving this out? Even the iphone syncs to outlook.
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Jesus, how many times is this going to be brought up? The function is NOT there, and it was known BEFORE any device came out. Quit the *****ing and get a phone that supports it, or move on.
Anyways, I'd like a good sports app like Sportacular that has notifications when games start, during and after with the scores. Fantasy updates with custom rosters would be great too.

Not sure what the SDK will let you do, but is it possible to develop an app that can be pinned to the start page, that toggles 3g/wifi/bluetooth? I know we can just drop in to the Settings menu, but I would pay for an app that put those three in one easy place.
I would also like an app that rotates, like a slideshow I guess, all sorts of images from the various Xbox games I've been playing across the tile. That would look cool on the start page. Maybe it does a Bing image search to find the images to rotate, etc. I'm not a developer, but it was something I thought of earlier today.

dougp.me said:
Jesus, how many times is this going to be brought up? The function is NOT there, and it was known BEFORE any device came out. Quit the *****ing and get a phone that supports it, or move on.
Anyways, I'd like a good sports app like Sportacular that has notifications when games start, during and after with the scores. Fantasy updates with custom rosters would be great too.
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this is comming in dec development almost done..

The direct sync with outlook is not possible with the WP7 SDK. That would have to be incorporated into the Zune sync software. The WP7 is meant to be a cloud device so I don't see this coming anytime soon.
The idea about toggling the radios is also not possible im afraid. The SDK does not give developers any direct access to the hardware like that. Hell, we can't even adjust the volume.

rruffman said:
this is comming in dec development almost done..
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love to see more on this...

JMackey said:
The idea about toggling the radios is also not possible im afraid. The SDK does not give developers any direct access to the hardware like that. Hell, we can't even adjust the volume.
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That really blows. Just thinking about what various iPhone and Android apps can do easily, it seems this platform is much more closed than even iPhone's. The key to both Android and iPhones success has been as much the developer community as it has been the solid hardware the apps run on, maybe even more so the developers. The new WP7 hardware seems solid enough so far. If MS doesn't open up the SDK to a greater array of components, this will just continue to lag behind, even fall farther behind.
...Hoping someone can cook up some nice WP7 ROM's

ability to take any music file and assign it as a ringtone!

an independent youtube app that doesnt simply goto a web page. Also bein able to watch high def on 3g, and not only on a wifi connection.

TOA Duck said:
an independent youtube app that doesnt simply goto a web page. Also bein able to watch high def on 3g, and not only on a wifi connection.
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There's already one in the Marketplace for free. You have to have the YouTube app installed to use it, but it allows for searching, etc. from within the App.

prubin said:
ability to take any music file and assign it as a ringtone!
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This is supposedly coming in January according to reports this morning. See: http://www.wpcentral.com/rumor-january-firmware-update-wp7-include-custom-ringer-support-more
(Sorry, forgot to multi-quote.)

not sure if you can make do this or not, but I would like to be able to connect to hidden networks. Also be able to use the device as a wifi router.

Could it be made downward compatible? It would be nice to be able to run some of my already-purchased software.
As an alternative, the single-largest bummer of making this switch for me will be loss of the two coolest apps I have EVER had – “Pocket Earth”, and “Pocket World” by Bluepoint Studios. These apps, especially Pocket Earth, were stunning! I don’t know their status, but if you could buy the rights and the code and somehow rewrite them for WP7, I suspect you would do very well.
I need programs which are NOT web-dependent. Dictionaries, translation programs, an atlas, etc. which are device-based. Traveling internationally is where one needs the language converters and I work a lot on the plane. I’d prefer to give up space in the device than to continually pay for international data.
Best of luck,
Dave

Battery indicator showing remaining strength in percentage or bars.

A recorder...
There are a few out there, but I need it to either have voice activated start/stop, or stop/start control from my bluetooth. I am a sports photographer, and if I can describe what is on a picture that I take right after I take it, it is much easier to do my captioning when I get home. But I don't have time to take the phone out of my pocket and start/stop after each play.

It seems a lot of the suggestions are things to do with hardware. The only hardware access the SDK gives developers is the GPS, Accelerometer, and the radio. We don't even have direct access to the camera. (When an app takes a picture, it opens the camera app then sends the taken picture back to the app).

riceboyler said:
There's already one in the Marketplace for free. You have to have the YouTube app installed to use it, but it allows for searching, etc. from within the App.
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Will we ever be able to watch high quality youtube vids over 3g. Now you have to be on wifi. I know on iphone the vids are HQ over 3g.

1) Something that bypasses Exchange-enforced password entry. Android has it; and frankly, PIN enforcement is a meaningless layer of security that does nothing more than inconvenience the end-user.
2) Something that let's you copy synced Calendar entries and Contacts to the Phone instead of forcing them to exist in the stupid cloud. <--I would pay good money for this. Again, something that Android let's you do that I like.
Edited to Add:
3) An app that keeps the phone on and unlocked. I don't like this forced lock/timeout thing, I'd prefer to have complete control of when it is locked and when it isn't.

1) A Remote Desktop Application compatable with MS's current RDP services
2) Something that periodically rotates the Logon Screen Picture
3) Something that would quickly display Battery Life, Used/Remaining Storage, etc...
- MEK

Looking for Dev Partner(s)

I know java, but I'm new to android. I like to learn things by diving right in so I came up with an idea for an app and am in a little over my head atm. I'm looking for experienced/inexperienced persons interested in developing/learning.
My idea seems simple enough:
It's a playlist creator / music playing app with a unique UI.
The app is in landscape mode and the left half is the music library and the right half is a playlist. Drag-n-drop songs from the library to the playlist. I haven't seen anything like this and think it would make a great app for parties/playlist junkies.
Let me know if you're interested.

I'd like to contribute to UX/UI/Graphical design if you need me, PM/email me (V[email protected])

Very possible. Trying to get the logic stuff done first before theming.

My app BlueMuze does something similiar to this already. It's a playlist and bluetooth music file sharing app. I should tell ya too, I had planned something like this for the tablet version. Currently it uses a multiselect UI for selecting songs, and a DragAndDrop UI for arranging them in separate activities.
I'd link to it but not sure I'm supposed to, since it's a for-profit app. Though, there's a free trial you can check out to see what you're getting into. It's on the Android Market so it should be easy to find.
Anyways, while I'm not going to partner or give away source code I think I can help you with tips and pointing you in the right direction.
I'd say the first place to begin is to understand ListViews and ListAdapters.
Second, I would go into the Android Source at kernel.org and look for the music package. There's a class in there called TouchInterceptor.java (that probably should really be named DragAndDrop) that should help you understand a bit how they did it in the stock music player.
Needless to say there are errors and inefficiencies in that code that you'll want to figure out.
Anyways, hope that helps get you started and please feel free to have a look at my app and to post questions as you go along.
cheers

Hello,
I have some experience with android views, drag & drop, databases. I like your idea, I would love to have a player that feels like amarok on my phone.
I imagine that this is a for-profit app and if so I would like to hear the details about this part. The amount of people involved, how they will be divided, if you are planning on releasing an ad supported version as well, etc.
Send me a pm with this info or a mail to [email protected] and I´ll think about it.

Practice App Ideas

I am new to Android App development. I need some simple application ideas to practice. please give me some ideas. I just made Rock, Paper, Scissor game. So easy games like this will be fine(I think )

Build a notepad app that lets you write and save notes. Build it steps where you increase the difficulty as you go on:
Make an app with a textbox that lets you enter text
Add a save button and learn how to execute code when the button is hit. Whenever you encounter any problems or don't know what to do, use Google! There are a lot of other running the same path as you and me who have encountered problems. The solution is almost always a search away!
Implement a save function that saves the content when the button is hit. When the user reopens the app load the text file and put the content in the textbox. Tip: Use SharedPreferences
Time to add support for multiple notes! Start off by learning how to move between activities (windows), in your notepad app add a button labeled "All notes" that sends you to another activity when clicked. Use Google to finds articles on how to do this.
Once you've figured out how to move between windows, it's time to create a list with all the notes. To display a list you use ListViews, before jumping in to showing the actual notes create a mock list containing your favorite cars, cats, Justin Bieber songs, whatever! Once you get a hang of it, move on to the next step
Learn how to store multiple strings instead of just one. Check out JSON, it's a simple data structure that lets you store.. data. Tip: store the notes in JSONObjects in a JSONArray. The final JSON-string can be stored in SharedPreferences.
Once you get a grip of JSON, add an add button, preferably in the ActionBar, that lets you add notes. Save the new note in the JSONArray.
Replace the cars or cats that are currently shown by the created lists.
Voilà, you have a fully functional notepad app and you've learned how to: move between activities, store data, ListViews, find solutions with Google etc. Good luck!

What are you aiming for, eventually ? Do you want to be a game developer, utility developer, are you aiming for a job developing apps ?
That might help you decide what kind of test apps to make.
If you go for a game you could spend a fair bit of time dealing with the graphical elements and gameplay without understanding the basics... so before you do that I'd suggest getting familiar with the building blocks (Activity, Intent, Service, Handler, Looper and so on) first.

jokernw said:
I am new to Android App development. I need some simple application ideas to practice. please give me some ideas. I just made Rock, Paper, Scissor game. So easy games like this will be fine(I think )
Click to expand...
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I started with memory game, you can go for it as well